• Beads and stringed necklaces provide a hands-on and visual method for teaching division.beads image by Florence from Fotolia.com
  
  If you have a large bin of beads in your art or educational supplies, use them for some fun learning activities. While beads are an appropriate tool for arts lessons and projects, you can also incorporate them into math and science lessons. Remember to use bead sizes and activities that are age-appropriate for your students or children.
  
  

Art Activities

• Use beads to bring out you and your child's creative side. For preschoolers, make it simple by stringing beads on a pip cleaner twisted at the ends to make a bracelet. Your little one might want to create a pattern with her beads as well. Make a picture frame using craft sticks decorated with a bead pattern around the edge. With some help from an adult with basic sewing skills, kids can practice sewing beads on a fabric frame as well (using foam or pillow filling inside the cloth for shape). You can also practice sewing beading a cross stitch pattern, which you can find at your local craft store or online.
  
  

Math Activities

• You can show the kids a string with a few beads on it (six or so) and explain that this is a piece of broken necklace, but you can figure out the pattern from these six beads left. Students discuss and solve using proportional reasoning. Beads work well for activities to practice division. Teachers divide students into groups, give them packs of four, six or eight beads each and pose the question, "How many packs do you need to make 24 beads?" Students use a chart to illustrate their answers and also choose a pattern for their chart. You can teach kids about the first computer by making an abacus in class. You use craft sticks for the frame, pipe cleaners for the rods and beads with large holes in the center. Metal machine-nuts also work well.
  
  

Science Activities

• Complete an activity with your students depicting the distance between the sun and planets in the solar system. Students convert each planet's distance from the sun and other planets to centimeters, then tie each bead (representing a planet or the sun) on a string. When everything's beaded, the string is wrapped around a piece of cardboard so you can see the distances. UV beads provide a safe way to detect UV rays. Students place the beads near fluorescent lights, then direct sunlight to see how they react. UV beads change color depending on how much ultraviolet exposure they get, so the more direct sunlight will give brighter color. Students can note changes when they put a plastic film over the beads or coat them with sunblock.